The ‘era’ of shorter commutes is officially over, StatCan says

With fewer Canadians working from home full-time, the “era of shorter commuting times has come to an end,” according to Statistics Canada.

The new data, released Monday, showed that as of May, the average commute time had reached 26.4 minutes, on par with the previously recorded high of 26.3 minutes seen in May 2016.

The report found 81.5 per cent of commuters used a vehicle to get to work, with six per cent walking or biking — down from the pre-pandemic level of 7.1 per cent.

Among those who regularly commute by driving in a car, truck or van, the time increased slightly by 30 seconds to 24.6 minutes — and while that increase is small, the percentage of total commuters who face an hour or longer to get to work rose to 9.2 per cent from 8.7 per cent in 2023.

The last time this number of Canadians saw such a lengthy travel time was May 2016.

“Average commuting times fell both during and after the pandemic due to fewer commuters and more people working from home,” Statistics Canada said in the report.

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“By May 2024, the era of shorter commuting times had come to an end.”

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Where you live also has an impact, with 20 per cent of those in the Ontario community of Oshawa — a part of the Greater Toronto Area — travelling such a distance. That’s followed by 15.7 per cent of Toronto residents and 14.6 for those in Barrie.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a drop in commuting as more workers worked from home, reaching a high of 24.3 per cent in May 2021.

As the country reopened, some companies have instituted return-to-work policies and while not all require 100 per cent in-office shifts, the hybrid model has become popular.

In turn, the number solely working mostly from home has dropped to 18.7 per cent with hybrid models accounting for 29.4 per cent. Hybrid workers are twice as likely to take public transit but also face a longer commute time of 41 minutes.

“From May 2022 to May 2024, the average commute time for hybrid workers working mostly from home increased at a faster pace (+4.2 minutes) than for regular commuters (+1.5 minutes), while the number of hybrid commuters who worked mostly from home increased by 386,000 to 1.1 million,” Statistics Canada said.

Toronto had the highest proportion of hybrid workers using public transportation at 45.9 per cent.

The proportion of public transit users hit 11.4 per cent, up from the record low of 7.8 per cent in 2021.

Though it’s seen a resurgence, StatCan said that’s below the pre-pandemic level of 12.6 per cent in 2016.

The average commuting time for public transit users, StatCan noted, was about 43 minutes compared with 26 minutes for vehicle drivers.